Cable seals have been used to prevent environmental contaminants (typically liquids) from entering into the connector housings of electrical connector assemblies and thereby into the terminal electrical contact areas of electrical connector assemblies. Existing connector assemblies use cable seals, typically made of silicone rubber, with a 2 or 3-rib peripheral design that has been thoroughly tested and proven to seal the cable to the housing.
The addition of carbon and/or other electrically conductive materials will cause silicone rubber to be mildly electrically conductive as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,823. Gaskets made of this “conductive silicone” have been used in concepts for sealing a connector housing to a mounting panel as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,351.
High voltage connection system typically require electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding within the frequency range of 0.5 to 110 megahertz (MHz). A shielded wire cable with a wire braid cable shield is typically used in these applications. According to the electrical connector assembly 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, the shielded cable 102 is installed in the housing 120 and the cable shield 108 is connected to an terminal shield 122 that surrounds the terminal 112 terminating the inner core 104 of the shielded cable 102. In the illustrated example, the terminal shield 122 is formed by a sheet metal can or shell.
The cable shield 108 and terminal shield 122 is connected by a pair of crimped ferrules, where the cable shield 108 is captured between an inner ferrule 132 and an outer ferrule 134. This connection between the cable shield 108 and terminal shield 122 requires the addition of the ferrules 132, 134 to create the interface. Additionally, a relatively large amount of space within the housing 120 is needed to accommodate crimp tooling to attach the ferrules 132, 134 to the shielded cable 102 as well as the cable seal 124. This space requires a larger connector assembly 100 which is a design concern in the restricted packaging spaces allowed for wiring and the associated connectors in modern vehicles. Therefore, a smaller sealed electrical connector assembly for shielded wire cables remains desired.